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3.13 Noriko Matsubara, Bocchi + Pocchi and the Bird, 2014
3.13 Noriko Matsubara, Bocchi + Pocchi and the Bird, 2014
It's a kid's story about two socks going for a walk. What my children liked the most was the photos of the author knitting models of the socks at the end. She wrote it! She illustrated it! She made the socks! -
Pierced by the Sun by Laura Esquivel
I thought I wasn't going to like this book. I'd rather read about a protagonist I admire, or at least one I might like as a person. There's not a lot to like about Lupita at the beginning of the story, and the first few chapters show all the signs of disintegrating into a preachy literary slice-of-life tale ( Read more... ) -
3.12 Olive Senior, Anna carries water, 2013
Olive Senior, Anna Carries Water, illustrated by Laura James, 2013 ( Read more... ) -
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
I enjoyed this book a lot, I'm glad someone recommended it to me ( Read more... ) -
Breaking Water by Indrapramit Das
Trigger Warnings for domestic violence, violence and gore
Krishna is quite unsettled when he bumps into a woman’s corpse during his morning bath in Kolkata’s Hooghly River, yet declines to do anything about it-after all, why should he take responsibility for a stranger? But when the dead start coming back to life en masse, he rethinks his position ( Read more... ) -
The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin
Let me preface this by saying that I did not enjoy The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, a book for which Jemisin won many awards. But I thought this book was terrific. Jemisin's work has become better known recently and I was happy to include her in my project. I am now EXTREMELY EAGER for the sequel to this book. -
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-mi Hwang
A charming story about a hen in a laying battery who dreams of escaping to freedom and hatching one of her eggs. Clear and simple prose with a likeable heroine. -
Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
Though I am close to the end of my project I couldn't help sneaking in one more memoir. I really have enjoyed the nonfiction I have read in this year - so much more than I would normally read and the quality was excellent ( Read more... ) -
Ghost Summer by Tananarive Due
This is an anthology of short pieces by the well-known speculative fiction writer Due. They don't quite fall into the horror category - I would rather describe them as atmospheric dark fantasy. The linked pieces center around Gracetown, Florida, a small town with a troubled past ( Read more... ) -
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondō
This wasn't my thing. The aggressive cheerfulness put me off. The claim that doing only a little bit at a time doesn't work doesn't fit with my life experience at all. And striving for perfection all the time seems tiring- I'm more in the "The Perfect is the enemy of the good" camp.